American Frontier

What Ever Happened to Uncle Frank: The Alaska Pioneer Homes

An interesting source for documenting a lost branch of your family is the Alaska Pioneer Home registers. A home for infirmed and destitute pioneer men was founded in 1913 in abandoned U.S. Marine barracks in Sitka. Other homes were founded much later.

Who Were the Alaska Pioneers

Who were these men? Many came to Alaska seeking their fortune in the gold rushes, only to find themselves busted and broke. They came from all over the world and when they found themselves destitute they never went home. Their families, often wives and children, never heard from them again. They came from all over Alaska to the Sitka Home where they lived their remainder of their lives.

The records are simple but provide important insights. For example, in 1914, Peter Farrell from Iditarod was admitted. He was born in Ireland on 25 April 1847 and had arrived in Alaska in 1894. In 1916, Edward J. Taylor from Ketchikan was admitted. He was born in Ireland on 8 April 1856. He had arrived in Alaska on 9 August 1897. The variety of men from around the world who can be found admitted to the Sitka Pioneer Home is enough to make any researcher pause and reflect.

The Sitka Pioneer Home Records

There are several places where the admission registers have been transcribed. An old publication is History of the Alaska Pioneer Home 1913-1962 (196?) a typescript published in the 1960s takes a history of the Sitka Home from 1913-1962). A newer more complete work is Robert N. DeArmond’s Roster of Residents. Sitka Pioneers’ Home, 1913-1993 (1994).

These sources can lead to others to supplement the information from the Sitka Home. An excellent textbook for identifying other resources is (2001), by Connie Malcolm Bradbury and David Albert Hales.

If you would like to learn more about Alaska family history or your genealogy in general check us out here

Baptist Archives in the United States

9 Oct By Dwight Leave a Comment

One of the most difficult tasks in Baptist research in the United States is the congregation was the most important entity. For this reason, records may or may not have been kept depending on the congregation. Another difficulty is determining what happened to a congregation, let alone it records. Types of records which can be helpful would include memberships, transfers in and out, disciplinary, adult baptisms and general minutes. The occasional death, marriage and biographical sketches are always handy.

Congregations are Created and Dissolved

In rural areas, congregations came and went. On the frontier, especially in places such as Mid-South in the 1830s, entire congregations were swept up in the rising tide of the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement. Thus, a one-time Baptist Church became a Christian Church! In settled areas, such as New England, a Baptist congregation may have been in the same town for several hundred years. Some congregations united with others or changed their names when they moved.

In your search for Baptist records, if you do not live locally in the area of your research, then contact the local genealogical society in the county starting with the links found on sites such as the USGenweb. The local state archive may also have deposited records. Never neglect the microfilm at the Family History Library

Major Baptist Historical Archives

For specific Baptist archives, your search query could use a combination of the word Baptist with Archives, Library or Genealogy. Main repositories are:

American Baptist Historical Society

Free Will Baptist Historical Commission

The Primitive Baptist Library of Carthage, Illinois

Southern Baptist Historical Library & Archives

Seventh Day Baptist Historical Society

If you are wondering about your Baptist ancestry, click here to begin your journey…

Keeping Your County Boundaries Straight

29 Nov By Dwight Leave a Comment

If you have been doing genealogy for decades or for only months, you have most likely encountered the problem of shifting political boundaries. In United States research, counties divided, subdivided, and sometimes even dissolved! However, there are some simple ways to keep track of where your people were living in what year.

In places such as Kentucky, the number of counties, and the rate they divided was simply staggering. Keeping track of the correct county records is a job in itself. Here’s my strategy for keeping tabs on county boundary changes:

*Make a running tally of where your ancestors were living during each state or federal census. If your ancestors were in different counties, does this reflect the creation of a new county or did your ancestors actually move?

*Use standard reference books which cite the creation dates for each county. This would certainly include, The Handy Book for Genealogists: United States of America (11^th edition, 2006), edited by Holly T. Hansen and Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources (3^rdedition, 2004), edited by Alice Eichholz. Other options are to consult

*Make a stick chart showing what counties were created from which parent counties. This visually clues you to when you need to consult records of another county. You may also find the new county was administratively connected to a more established county, but not formed from it. I’m thinking of how western Pennsylvania was created and the new counties administered. All of this affects where you will find records.

Always keep track of what resources you have used to document the “genealogy” of county formations. It’s your guide into what records you need. Don’t be like many of us; make the chart on a scrap piece of paper and then throw it away when you think you’re finished. You will probably need your chart again.

Guion Miller Rolls

13 Nov By Dwight Leave a Comment

The Guion Miller Roll accepted applications to determine membership in the Eastern Cherokee Nation. This source documents families not removed to Indian Territory in 1838. It is an excellent resource for mixed-blood families. As with all my blogs about the Cherokee, this by default usually also means Scots-Irish ancestry.

Between 1906 and 1909, some 45,940 applications were submitted from throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. The Guion Miller Rolls lists an estimated 90,000 individual applicants each of whom had to trace lineage to someone in the 1835 Henderson Roll, prior to the removal. Most applications were rejected based on a lack of evidence. Unless clearly fraudulent, the rejected applications still preserve the genealogy back to the 1835 time period. They also provide insight into mixed-blood families long separated from the tribe.

Indexes to the Guion Miller Rolls can be found on the National Archives website: www.archives.gov/research/arc/native-americans-guion-miller.html ; “Access Genealogy”: www.accessgenealogy.com/native/guion.php ; and on “Fold3”: http://www.fold3.com/title_81/guion_miller_roll/ The applications are widely available on microfilm.

The Guion Miller Rolls is as a guide posts as to who may have considered themselves Cherokee. Remember, even if the government didn’t consider a claim valid, DNA may prove otherwise! Then again, there were fraudulent claims of people who were only seeking government money.

Two mistakes people make when using these rolls is: 1.) They are only for Cherokee families. This is incorrect as many mixed-bloods applied, who were not Cherokee. Other, then unorganized native groups applied because there was no place else for them to apply; 2.) If an ancestor was part of a denied claim that there is no native heritage. This is also incorrect as the denied claims not only include fraudulent claims, but also ones which could not be sufficiently documented. That was the reason for rejection, not fraud.

Concerning those who were fraudulent, an excellent blog on “Thoughts from Polly’s Granddaughter” provide some thought provoking insights on the Guion Miller Roll: www.pollysgranddaughter.com/2011/06/fortune-hunters-guion-miller-roll-and.html I would also like to direct you to my two part blogs “What Does Cherokee Mean?” which appeared on 27-28 August 2012.

Kidnapped to Quebec

12 Nov By Dwight Leave a Comment

Often in tracing Colonial New England Scots-Irish families, you find the unexpected. What you find is these Presbyterians living in Quebec as Roman Catholics, married to Indians, and having both an Indian and French name. What the heck?

It turns out that with a little historical research into the “French and Indian Wars,” it all makes sense. Many Scots-Irish families were kidnapped by Indians and traded in what is now Quebec. The obvious implication is that who you thought were French Catholics or even mixed-bloods from the First Nations were originally Scots-Irish Presbyterians from New England and Ulster with a totally different name!

They are documented in two works: Emma Lewis Coleman’s New England Captives Carried to Canada Between 1677 and 1760 During the French and Indian Wars (1925); and C. Alice Baker’s True Stories of New England Captives Carried to Canada During the Old French and Indian Wars (1897). These can be found online, and don’t forget to look for online indexes.

Now for the historical background. These series of wars can be divided up and named. In the United States the war was named after the ruling English Monarch at the time. In Canada, either the larger European conflict or the term “Intercontential War” is used.

1688-1697: King William’s War (1^st Intercolonial War (Quebec))

1702-1713: Queen Ann’s War (2^nd Intercolonial War)

1744-1748: King George’s War and War of Jenkins’ Ear (3^rd Intercolonial War)

1754-1763: The French and Indian War (4^th Intercolonial War and 6^th Indian War)

These wars were tied to the larger European conflicts as they played out in North America. These wars pitted England/UK, its colonies and Indian allies against France, its colonies and Indian allies. The causes of the wars were the desire of both nations to control the interior of North America, and the region around the Hudson Bay. The winner would dominant the fur trade. The French were effective in mobilizing the Indians, who raided the English colonies, and brought captives back to Quebec. New Hampshire, and its Scots-Irish population, were particularily ravaged during the last two wars.

In tomorrow’s blog, I want to continue the other side of this native theme by exploring people who willingly were trying to claim Native American heritage, whether they were or not.

American Presbyterian Ministers and their Ulster Origins

11 Nov By Dwight Leave a Comment

One of the strategies I’m always preaching in Scots-Irish immigrant research is to make sure you research the minister of the congregation where your ancestor’s attended. The reason is that during the 1700s, it was common for ministers to bring all or parts of their congregations to North America with them. To find out where the minister pastored in Ireland may be to find out where your ancestors were from in Ulster.

To assist you in this search, there is a source which I would like to bring to your attention. It is Rev. David Stewart’s Fasti of the American Presbyterian Church: treating of ministers of Irish origin who labored in America during the eighteenth century (Belfast: Bell and Logan, 1943). This work contains record of 156 ministers who immigrated to the United States from Ulster. After much hunting, I finally found a copy at the Presbyterian Historical Society in Ireland: www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com. It’s most impressive. It’s a lesser known resource which should be added to the works already in print on Irish Presbyterian ministers.

When consulting this work, or any others, just be aware, just because a minister was born in Ulster, does not mean he actually pastored in Ulster. He may have immigrated as a child and studied in America. This is one consideration. The main reasons you would check Stewart’s work is if your ancestor was the minister or you suspect a congregational migration from Ulster. If this is found to be true, it goes a long way towards solving your immigration problem.

The average Presbyterian register in Ireland begins in the 1820s and 1830s. If your ancestors immigrated in the 1700s, then church registers in Ireland will not help. Books about ministers trained in Ireland or Scotland may or may not help, making Stewart’s work from the American angle extremely valuable. Definitely consult it. Most research guides actually miss this one source.

The Community of Christ and its Records (Part 2)

25 Oct By Dwight Leave a Comment

This second part focuses on the records generated by the Community of Christ (RLDS). Although this church was not officially reorganized until 1860, it is important to remember its roots and membership extend back to 1830. The period 1844-1860 in Latter Day Saint history was one of redefining identity for many Mormons.

Susan Easton Black’s monumental six volume work Early Members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (1993) is a major resource to begin your research. Just be aware there are some errors in this work. There are many Irish born in these biographical sketches.

The majority of the church’s records are held at the Community of Christ Archives in Independence, Missouri. Large segments of the collection are on microfilm at the Family History Library: www.familysearch.org in Salt Lake City.

Some of the major collections include “Archival Holdings” which include original documents by individuals such as letters, licenses, journals, diaries and autobiographical material; Branch Records, known as “Local Jurisdictional Record Books,: and are the records of the individual congregations; “Certificate of Child Blessing Card File,” an alphabetical card index to priesthood blessings given to newborn children or young children; “Deceased Membership Files,” cover information from 1860; “Early Church Membership Records (1852-1908),” which details religious information such as baptismal,

confirmation, ordinations, transfers and removals, and expellings; “Early Reorganization Minutes (1851-1872)”; “RLDS Membership Record Book (1872-1905),” containing the branch records of membership, blessing of children, ordinations and excommunications; “Saints’ Herald,” the official periodical of the church, dating from 1860; “Saints’ Advocate (1878-1886),” documents the RLDS missionary activities among the Utah Church.

For further reference in understanding the historic positions of the church, I recommend the following works: F. Henry Edwards, Our Legacy of Faith: A Brief History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (1991); Richard P. Howard, The Church Through the Years. 2 vols. (1992-1993); Peter A. Judd and A. Bruce Lindgren. An Introduction to the Saints Church (1976); Alan D. Tyree, ed. Exploring the Faith: A Series of Studies in the Faith of the Church Prepared by a Committee on Basic Beliefs (1987).

The Community of Christ and its Records (Part 1)

24 Oct By Dwight Leave a Comment

Many Irish-born Latter Day Saints didn’t go West with the main church in 1846. Others did, only to later migrate back to the Mid-West or to California. These Mormons often became associated with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), now the Community of Christ: www.cofchrist.org (as of 2001). This denomination was organized in 1860. Their roots can be traced to Nauvoo, Illinois prior to 1844 as some Mormons rejected developing esoteric theology such as polygamy, temple rituals, and the plurality of gods. They sought a more practical religion. They would reorganize under Joseph Smith III (1832-1914) as their prophet-president. The lineal descent of the presidency from the founder remained intact until 1996.

Prior to its self-evaluation beginning in the 1960s, members tended to define themselves in opposition to the Utah Mormons. Today, the two churches have a good relationship and work together to preserve historical records. This is a boom for the family historian.

When the founding prophet Joseph Smith was murdered in 1844 many members did not know which of the many prophetic leadership claims to follow. To complicate this was the prophetic claims of James J. Strang (1813-1856) who in 1844 acquired a large membership with the goal of building the Kingdom of God on Beaver Island, Michigan. He was murdered in 1856, and his church scattered. Most of the future leadership of the RLDS Church was one time Strangites.

Others did not continue with the faith. This means scores of North Americans today trace back into a Mormon family during this tumultuous period from 1844-1860.

The church accepts the Bible, Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants, with the last revelation added in the 2010. They claim the two traditional Latter Day Saint priesthoods, which blacks were granted in 1865 and women in 1985.

The Community of Christ built a huge temple complex on the portion of the Temple Lot they own. It serves as an educational and worship center dedicated to world peace and reconciliation. The contemporary view is that Zion, with its temple, can be thought of as a place, a condition, and as a process, not one exact location – Independence, Missouri.

Tomorrow’s blog will focus on the records generated by the Community of Christ.

The Scots-Irish and Cherokee Connection (Part 3)

19 Oct By Dwight Leave a Comment

My third blog will focus on early Cherokee land and agency records. These are extracted on various websites, published or in manscript form on microfilm. These are good sources for mixed-blood research.

There is no one resource on early Cherokee land records covering the entire nation prior to removal. One example of land records is David Keith Hampton’s Cherokee Reservees (1979), which provides details of land given to the Cherokees in Hamilton County, Tennessee. This book gives the names of the applicants who settled their claims with the U.S. Government in 1817.

Following the treaty of 1817, the U.S. Secretary of War deeded land to each of the Cherokee chiefs who had signed the treaty. Each tract was either in newly ceded lands or in older lands ceded through earlier treaties, and each chief was given 640 acres (one square mile) of land. Robert Armstrong was the surveyor of this land in Alabama, North Carolina and Tennessee. The surveyor’s records for land in Georgia have not survived. Each survey and the accompanying plat have been published in James L. Douthat’s Robert Armstrong’s Survey Book of Cherokee Lands: Lands Granted from Treaty of 27 February 1819 (1993).

The Cherokee Agency in Tennessee was in operation until 1835. The agency records have been transcribed in Marybelle W. Chase’s Records of the Cherokee Agency in Tennessee, 1801-1835 (1990). The records contain much genealogical information, such as lists of widows and orphans. It also has an 1819 listing of those who had originally enrolled for emigration but misunderstood the treaty and wanted to remain.

When families, who had received their reserves, decided to move and sell their land, the transactions would be recorded in the local county land books. At that point they moved to Indian Territory or westward along with other Americans. This helped spread Cherokee rooted families across North America.

The Scots-Irish and Cherokee Connection (Part 2)

18 Oct By Dwight Leave a Comment

In this second Cherokee blog I will focus on the censuses known as rolls. These rolls include removal records (both voluntary and forced), muster rolls, rations and censuses. Most can be found online or published:

Cherokee Emigration Rolls (1817-1838): Cherokee who voluntarily removed westward.

Census of Cherokee (1835): Known as the Henderson Roll. A census of Cherokee living in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, and is the main source for documenting Cherokee who were forcibly removed.

Ration Books (1836-38): Ration books from camps located in New Echota, Georgia and Camp Clanwaugh (near Chattanooga, Tennessee) prior to the removal process.

Cherokee Muster Rolls (1838): This muster roll was a forced removal record, accompanying the Henderson Roll.

Mullay Roll (1848): Eastern Cherokee who remained in North Carolina. It set aside money for emigration to Indian Territory.

Drennen Roll (1851): Also called the Immigrant Roll, it lists Eastern Cherokee who settled in Indian Territory after 1835, removing later on their own.

Siler Roll (1851): Eastern Cherokee living in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Chapman Roll (1852): Eastern Cherokee roll listed per capita payment made to those named on the Siler Roll.

Tompkins Roll (1867): Cherokees residing in Indian Territory listed by district.

Swetland Roll (1869): Eastern Cherokee in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Hester Roll (1883): Eastern Cherokee who resided in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and elsewhere.

Dawes Commission (1896, 1898-1914): The final roll of the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory. Indexed on Ancestry: www.ancestry.com

Guion Miller Roll (1909): Applications for determining the final roll for the Eastern Cherokee. This is one of the most important sources for documenting mixed-blood families who did not remove. The index is at the National Archives website: www.archives.gov/research/arc/native-americans-guion-miller.html

The next blog will focus on the early Cherokee land and agency records.

« Previous Page

Call Today! 801.699.2450

Or send us an Email